Poetic Perspective

A nice walk was had last week around a village called Hawkley. The church roof is very distinctive and looks slightly skewed, like an optical illusion. I forgot my camera, but found this picture on flickr. The owner, Luptonn, very kindly gave permission for me to borrow his photograph and post it here.

Each diamond shaped segment looks as if it's a completely different size to the next segment along, as if the panels don't actually belong on the same roof. You can't see the four individual quarters on this picture, but you can sense something slightly off balance about the architecture, and a lack of symmetry which compels you to keep looking up.

The time on the clock is somewhat ironic, as we discovered on our walk that there's a memorial to a WW1 poet (Edward Thomas) up above the valley. The path was too muddy to risk the detour so I had a look at some of his poems when we got home. This one was short, but poignant.

In Memoriam

The flowers left thick at nightfall in the wood
This Eastertide call into mind the men,
Now far from home, who, with their sweethearts, should
Have gathered them and will do never again.